Who Is My Wifi

If your internet has been unexpectedly slow lately, someone living nearby may be stealing your Wi-Fi. There’s only a certain amount of bandwidth to go around and if yours is already divided up between a few computers, a smart TV, and a couple of phones, there’s a good chance you’ll start seeing slower speeds when an internet freeloader streams a high-definition video.

  1. Who Is My Wifi Network

You don’t want any unauthorized devices tapping into your Wi-Fi, both because of the performance issues it causes and the big security risk that it represents. So if something funny is going on with your Wi-Fi, it’s important to check it out and fix the problem (while ditching the moochers).

Is someone stealing your Wi-Fi?

If you only have a few Wi-Fi devices in your house, you may want to unplug or turn them all off, and then watch the wireless signal light on your router. If the light continues to flicker, someone else is using your Wi-Fi.

Who Is On My Wifi is a product developed by Io3o Llc. This site is not directly affiliated with Io3o Llc. All trademarks, registered trademarks, product names and company names or logos mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. Jul 18, 2014  Step 1: Install a copy of Who Is On My WiFi (henceforth known as WIOMW). Step 2: After opening the app, follow the tutorial steps, which will initiate your first (and likely a.

192.168.1.1 is a Admin router login IP address which is a wireless router setup and configuration wizard. It is a common IP address that many routers use it as their default gateway. First, usually the username and password are marked on the back of your router, you need to look for them carefully.

However, this method only works if you can be sure that every wireless-capable device you have is powered down, which may not be easy to do in many homes. So, we present two in-depth methods for checking for Wi-Fi thieves, no matter what setup you have. If you need a refresher on wireless networking itself, then check out our Wi-Fi overview.

Method 1: Use an app

A number of apps are available to provide automatic searches for unusual devices logged into your Wi-Fi network. Checking those devices, especially if they’re connecting at odd times of day when no friends are over, can provide valuable clues. Here are a few apps that can help you pinpoint problems.

Paessler PRTG Router Monitoring: Paessler’s solution is a full suite of router management tools, including automatic detection of strange traffic, analysis of how the network is being used, and other in-depth tools. It may be a bit much for the average homeowner worried about their neighbors, but it’s an excellent tool for small businesses concerned about someone hopping on their network without permission. We suggest you stick with the 30-day free trial, which should be enough to root out any problems.

F-Secure Router Checker: F-Secure is a web-based tool that is useful if you want to avoid any downloads. This tool checks for more serious hacking — specifically, it looks for signs that someone is using stealthy setting tweaks to hijack your internet, which may be useful for tougher cases.

Wireless Network Watcher: This independent software is designed to help Windows and MacOS users watch for suspicious wireless activity and monitor all currently connected devices.

Fing: Fing is an iOS download for more mobile-oriented protection. It allows you to immediately see connected devices, what type of devices they are, and the nature of their connection, MAC address, and so on. You can also check Wi-Fi connection behavior to note particularly busy times that could indicate someone else is hopping onto your network.

Method 2: Check administrator logs

If you suspect that someone is stealing your Wi-Fi, you need to log in to your router’s administration page. Most people can do this by typing 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1 into the address bar. If these don’t work, swing on over to our guide for accessing your router’s admin panel.

Once you’ve accessed the admin page, you’ll need to locate the page listing the various Media Access Control (MAC) addresses connected to your computer. The location of this page will differ depending on your router, but you may find it under wireless configuration, wireless status, or in the DHCP client list. You can use this list to count how many devices are connected to your internet. If you see six MAC addresses — any device connected to your network will have its own unique MAC address — but only have four devices in your home, somebody is probably stealing your internet.

Note: Old phones, gaming consoles, Wi-Fi enabled cameras, and other connected devices may show up on the MAC address list. You can get a better handle on which MAC address represents which device by using a website like macvendors.com.

How to keep outsiders away

If you suspect someone is stealing your Wi-Fi, it’s a good idea to beef up security (penalties for Wi-Fi theft vary greatly, so consult local law enforcement for follow-up). If you don’t have a password on your network, add one. If you still use the default router name and password, change it — you can do this from the admin page on your router.

To change your password, look for the pre-shared key in your security settings. Changing your wireless password will kick off all current devices (including those unwanted freeloaders), so you’ll have to reconnect your devices once you have a new password.

To change your router name, locate the Service Set Identifier. This is typically found in the wireless settings menu.

Lastly, it’s important to use the strongest wireless network encryption available for consumers. At this time, that’s WPA2, but it will soon be supplanted bt a new standard, WPA3. If your router was manufactured prior to 2006, it may not be compatible with WPA2 encryption. If that’s the case, you may want to think about getting a new one.

Editors' Recommendations

Do you know who’s connected to your router’s Wi-Fi network? Take a look at the list devices connected to your Wi-Fi network from your router or computer to find out.

Bear in mind that many devices connect to your Wi-Fi these days. The list will contain laptops, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, set-top boxes, game consoles, Wi-Fi printers, and more.

Use GlassWire Pro to See Who is Connected (And Get Alerts when a New Device Connects to Your Wi-Fi)

We’re big fans of the GlassWire firewall and security system, and one of the great features they have in the Pro version is a quick and easy Network view that shows you all the devices connected to your Wi-Fi network.

GlassWire isn’t just a firewall, it also has beautiful graphs to show your bandwidth usage, see what applications are connecting to what, and exactly how much bandwidth each application is using. You can get alerts when an application changes something, or when an installer tries to install a new system driver. There are tons of features, too many to list here.

But what makes GlassWire even better for today’s topic is that if you go into the Settings panel, you can actually enable alerts whenever a new device tries to connect to your Wi-Fi. Now that’s a great feature!

GlassWire is free for basic use, but the network device monitoring is only included in the paid version ($49 for one PC).

Ez Street by Dj Drez, released 09 September 1999 1. Ez Street Side A 2. Ez Street Side B Ez Street is a mix I created in 1999. The Music is Free.The art is what. Dj drez ez street cafe.

Use Your Router’s Web Interface

RELATED:10 Useful Options You Can Configure In Your Router’s Web Interface

The best way to find this information will be to check your router’s web interface. Your router hosts your Wi-Fi network, so it has the most accurate data about which devices are connected to it. Most routers offer a way to view a list of connected devices, although some may not.

The standard tips for accessing your router’s web interface apply. If you’re not sure of its IP address, you can generally look for your computer’s gateway IP address via the Control Panel. You could also run run the ipconfig /all command in a Command Prompt window.

Next, plug this IP address into your web browser’s address bar and press Enter. This should usually bring up your router’s interface. If it doesn’t, check your router’s documentation — or perform a web search for its model number and “web interface” to find out how to access it. If you haven’t set a custom password and passphrase, you may need to perform a search or check the documentation to find the default ones for your model of router.

Finding the List of Connected Devices

You’ll now need to look for the option in your router’s web interface somewhere. Look for a link or button named something like “attached devices,” “connected devices,” or “DHCP clients.” You may find this on the Wi-Fi configuration page, or you may find it on some sort of status page. On some routers, the list of connected devices may be printed on a main status page to save you some clicks.

On many D-Link routers, a list of connected devices is available under Status > Wireless.

On many Netgear routers, you’ll find the list under “Attached Devices” in the sidebar.

On many Linksys routers, you’ll find this option under Status > Local Network > DHCP Clients Table.

On Comcast Xfinity routers, you’ll find the list under Connected Devices in the sidebar.

Understanding the List

What

RELATED:How to Assign a Static IP Address in Windows 7, 8, 10, XP, or Vista

Many routers simply provide a list of devices connected via DHCP. This means that, if a device is configured with a static IP configuration, it won’t appear in the list. Keep that in mind!

When you get the list open, you’ll generally see similar information on every router. The interface probably shows you a table with a list of connected devices, their “host names” on the network, and their MAC addresses.

RELATED:Change Your Computer Name in Windows 7, 8, or 10

If the list doesn’t offer meaningful enough names, you may want to change the hostnames (also known as “computer names” or “device names”) on your computer or device’s operating systems. The host name will be visible here. Unfortunately, there’s no way to change the hostname on some devices — for example, we’re not aware of a way to change an Android device’s hostname to a more meaningful one without rooting it.

When in doubt, you could always compare the MAC address seen on this page (or the IP address displayed) to the MAC address of a device you’re using to check which device is which.

This List Isn’t Foolproof

Of course, this list isn’t completely perfect. Anyone can set any hostname they want, and it’s also possible to change your MAC address to spoof other devices. However, this would mean that a device of yours wouldn’t be able to connect to the network while another device with a spoofed MAC address was taking its place, as routers generally block two devices with the same MAC address from connecting at the same time. And someone who gained access to your router could set up a static IP configuration to be stealthy.

RELATED:Don’t Have a False Sense of Security: 5 Insecure Ways to Secure Your Wi-Fi

Ultimately, this isn’t the most powerful security feature, or a foolproof way to notice people connected to your network. It’s not something you need to check regularly. If there are devices you don’t recognize, you can change your Wi-Fi passphrase — you’re hopefully using WPA2-PSK encryption — and that will kick all the devices off until they can provide the new passphrase.

However, even devices you don’t recognize may be something you own that you didn’t remember. For example, an unknown device could be a Wi-Fi-enabled printer, a Wi-Fi connected speaker system, or your smart TV’s built-in Wi-Fi that you never use.

Scan Your Wi-Fi Network With Software On Your Computer

The ideal way to check for connected devices will generally be to use your router’s web interface. However, some routers may not offer this feature, so you may want to try a scanning tool instead. This is a piece of software running on your computer that will scan the Wi-Fi network you’re connected to for active devices and list them. Unlike router web interface tools, such scanning tools have no way of listing devices that have been connected, but which are currently offline. You’ll only see online devices.

There are a lot of tools for doing this, but we like NirSoft’s Wireless Network Watcher. Like other NirSoft software, it’s a convenient little tool without any adware or nag screens. It also doesn’t even need to be installed on your computer. Download the tool, launch it, and it will watch your Wi-Fi network for active devices, displaying their device names, MAC addresses, and the manufacturer of their Wi-FI network hardware. The manufacturer name is very helpful for identifying specific devices without device name — especially Android devices.

This tool may not work properly until you specify your Wi-Fi network adapter. On our Windows PC, we had to click Options > Advanced Options in Wireless Network Watcher, check “Use the following network adapter,” and choose our physical Wi-Fi adapter before performing a scan.

Once again, this isn’t something you really need to worry about constantly. If you’re using WPA2-PSK encryption and have a good passphrase, you can feel fairly secure. It’s unlikely anyone is connected to your Wi-Fi without your permission. If you’re concerned this is happening for some reason, you an always just change your Wi-Fi’s passphrase—you’ll have to re-enter it on all your approved devices, of course. Be sure WPS is disabled before you do this, as WPS is vulnerable and attackers could potentially use it to re-connect to your network without the passphrase.

Who Is My Wifi Network

Changing your Wi-FI passphrase can also be a good idea if you’ve given out your Wi-FI password—to neighbors visiting you, for example—and want to be sure they don’t continue using it for years.

READ NEXT
  • › How to Speed Up Your PlayStation 4’s Downloads
  • › How to Disable the Login Screen’s Background Blur on Windows 10
  • › How to Use All Linux’s Search Commands
  • › How to See All Your Saved Wi-Fi Passwords on Windows 10
  • › How Do Bone Conduction Headphones Work?
Comments are closed.